Woman who stabbed classmate to please Slender Man can be released from psychiatric hospital
A Wisconsin woman who at age 12 stabbed her sixth grade classmate nearly to death to please online horror character Slender Man will be released from a psychiatric hospital, a judge ordered Thursday after a trio of experts testified that she has made considerable progress battling mental illness.
Morgan Geyser has spent nearly seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She has petitioned Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, who committed her, for release four times since June 2022. She withdrew her first two petitions. Bohren denied her third request this past April, finding she still presented a threat to the public.
Geyser, now 22 years old, filed her latest petition in October. Bohren decided to grant her release after a day-long hearing Thursday, finding that she had maximized her treatment options at the facility and is no longer a safety risk. He ordered the state Department of Health Services to set up a plan to house her in a group home and supervise her for his consideration at a hearing within 60 days.
The judge said that her crime was a “brutal, terrible offense” but Geyser has since grown up and to be truly rehabilitated she must exist as part of society.
“She’s done what she’s supposed to do,” Bohren said. “She appears to have a good attitude.”
Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 years old in 2014 when they lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. Leutner barely survived.
The girls later told investigators that they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man’s servants and they feared he would harm their families if they didn’t follow through.
Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide and was sent to the psychiatric institute due to mental illness in 2018.
Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. She was also sent to the psychiatric center but was granted release in 2021 to live with her father and was ordered to wear a GPS monitor.
Three psychologists who have been working with Geyser since she was committed to the institute testified at Thursday’s hearing that she’s made impressive progress in just the last six months and should be released.
Dr. Brooke Lundbohm testified that Winnebago staff weaned Geyser off her anti-psychotic medications by early 2023 and she’s suffered no symptoms since then.
Dr. Deborah Collins said Geyser is always at risk of reoffending simply because she almost killed someone but she has worked on her coping skills, improved her emotional control and retreats into fantasy less frequently. Collins added that Geyser told her that she hates what she did to Leutner and can’t forgive herself.
Dr. Ken Robbins told the judge that she could become dangerous if she remained confined at Winnebago and lost hope.
“The longer she’s there, at this point, the harder it’s going to be to re-integrate,” Robbins said.
Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz argued that Geyser couldn’t be trusted, noting that she claimed during evaluations last year that she faked her delusions about Slender Man and actually attacked Leutner as a way of escaping her abusive father. He hinted that was a ploy to make the release more likely.
The judge shrugged that off, saying it’s not unusual for mental illness diagnoses to evolve.
Slender Man Stabbing: Where Are Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser 10 Years After Attack?
Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 years old when they stabbed their close friend 19 times in an effort to please the mythical horror figure Slender Man (also called Slenderman).
The Slender Man character is believed to have originated in an illustration from 2009 of a tall, thin man with tentacle-like arms and abilities including mind control and teleportation. Slender Man went viral on Creepypasta sites, which share horror stories.
Together, Weier and Geyser grew obsessed with Slender Man and plotted to kill their classmate, Payton Leutner, in an effort to become "proxies" for the character, who they believed was real. Luring Leutner into the woods on May 31, 2014, Weier and Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times before leaving her for dead — but she survived. The case inspired an HBO documentary and the 2018 feature film Slender Man starring Joey King.
Here's everything to know about the Slender Man stabbing and what happened to Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser — and survivor Payton Leutner — in the decade since.
Geyser, Weier and Leutner were all students at Horning Middle School in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wis.
Leutner and Geyser had actually become friends first. In an episode of 20/20, Leutner recalled that she befriended Geyser after seeing her eat alone at lunch. She also described her former friend as funny and “a little lonely.”
However, Leutner said their relationship changed after Geyser befriended Weier in sixth grade in 2014. Weier and Geyser grew obsessed with Slender Man, leading Leutner to want to distance herself from Geyser.
"I thought it was odd. It kind of frightened me a little bit, but I went along with it," Leutner ABC anchor David Muir on 20/20 in 2019. "I was supportive because I thought that’s what she liked."
However, in time, Leutner started considering ending her friendship with Geyser. "I saw the change from fifth to sixth grade when she met Anissa," she added. "That's when I was really wanting to get out of that friendship."
According to The New York Times, Geyser and Weier believed that Slender Man was real and that he lived in the woods of northern Wisconsin.
Over the course of several months, Geyser and Weier devised a plan to murder Leutner to try to become "proxies" for the fictional horror character, The New York Times reported. Using code words like "cracker" for knife and "camping trip" for the woods where they believed Slender Man resided, in February 2014, Weier and Geyser chose May 31 of that year for the attempted slaying.
According to police, Weier and Geyser lured Leutner into a Wisconsin park and took turns encouraging one another to stab Leutner, with Geyser actually stabbing her 19 times while Weier watched. They then left Leutner for dead, but Leutner survived. Leutner crawled to a nearby bike path, where a passerby called 911 and stayed with her until paramedics arrived.
Local police found Weier and Geyser — who were both 12 at the time — walking on the side of the road miles away from the crime scene and picked the girls up. They reportedly were nonchalant when they informed investigators that they killed their friend to appease Slender Man, who they thought would kill them or their families if they didn't kill Leutner. Geyser, covered in blood, told police, "I might as well just say it. We were trying to kill her."
Geyser and Weier were each charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Despite their age, they were tried as adults.
In August 2017, Weier pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted homicide as a party to a crime with the use of a deadly weapon. The following month, a jury ruled that Weier was mentally ill at the time of the murder attempt and found her not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
Per her plea agreement, Weier was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in a psychiatric facility. She was mandated to spend at least three years in a psychiatric hospital before she could apply for supervised release, which would be part of the commitment order. She was also credited for the three years that she served in a juvenile detention facility.
Geyser’s attorneys argued in court documents that she suffered from schizophrenia and psychotic spectrum disorder, which made her prone to delusions and paranoid beliefs. She pleaded guilty in October 2017, sobbing in court, and was committed to a mental hospital.
Despite her plea deal, she was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or disorder. She was sentenced to 40 years in a psychiatric hospital, the Associated Press reported, which Judge Michael Bohren said was because it was "an issue of public protection."
Leutner was hospitalized for 10 days after the attack, and in the following months had as many as eight medical appointments per week during her recovery. She returned to Horning Middle School for seventh grade in September 2014. A representative for the Leutner family said that Leutner excelled academically, participated in school music programs and volunteered at an animal shelter as she had before Weier and Geyser's attack. She and her family each sought counseling to cope with the trauma of the stabbing.
In October 2019, Leutner spoke publicly for the first time about the Slender Man stabbing, telling Muir in a 20/20 interview that she still slept with broken scissors under her pillow five years after the attack. She also revealed that she was actually somewhat grateful for what had happened to her.
"Just because of what she did, I have the life I have now," Leutner said. "I really, really like it and I have a plan. I didn't have a plan when I was 12, and now, I do because of everything that I went through. I wouldn't think that someone who went through what I did would ever say that, but that’s truly how I feel. Without the whole situation, I wouldn't be who I am."
After applying for conditional release in March 2021, then 19-year-old Weier was released from Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh, Wis., on Sept. 13, 2021. She spent more than four years in inpatient psychiatric treatment. She must reside with her father and isn't permitted to access the Internet outside of his home. The Department of Corrections monitors her Internet use and activity.
Weier is also subject to 24/7 GPS tracking and is mandated to continue psychiatric treatment.
On April 21, 2024, Judge Bohren denied Geyser's petition for early release from Winnebago Mental Health Institute after two court-appointed psychologists recommended she remain in inpatient psychiatric care. One of the psychologists said that Geyser claimed in a 2022 evaluation she was "faking" her psychotic symptoms in an effort to avoid being released to her father's care, alleging he abused her.
If you or someone you know need mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
Woman seeking release from mental institution in Slender Man stabbing
CHICAGO (CBS/AP) -- A Wisconsin woman convicted of stabbing a classmate more than a decade ago to please horror character Slender Man is asking a judge to release her from a psychiatric hospital.
Morgan Geyser, now 22, pleaded guilty in 2017 to attempted first-degree intentional homicide for the 2014 attack on Payton Leutner, who was stabbed 19 times and left for dead. Investigators said Geyser and co-defendant Anissa Weier lured her from a sleepover to a nearby park in Waukesha. All three girls were 12.
Geyser was sentenced to 40 years in a mental institution, and earlier this month filed her third petition to be released.
On Friday, a Wisconsin judge ordered her doctors to file a new report in her case by early next month, and scheduled additional hearings on Geyser's request for January.
Geyser was denied release earlier this year, after the judge said she remained a risk to the public.
She withdrew a separate petition two months after filing it in 2022.
Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide in the attack, and was sentenced to 25 years in a mental institution. She was released from a psychiatric facility in 2021, and allowed to live with her father while wearing a GPS monitor. She was taken off that electronic monitoring last year, but is still under state supervision, including mental health treatment.
Woman involved in Slender Man attack as a child again seeks release from psychiatric institute
WAUKESHA, Wis. — A Wisconsin judge had a hearing scheduled for Monday in the case of a woman who wants to be released from a mental institution that she was committed to after she pleaded guilty to repeatedly stabbing a sixth-grade classmate in order to please the horror character Slender Man.
This marks the second time that Morgan Geyser, now 21, has asked a judge to release her from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She made a similar request for conditional release in 2022 but withdrew the petition two months after filing it.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren set a scheduling conference for Monday on Geyser’s request to be released, which she submitted on Jan. 16. Geyser asked the judge to order a new round of medical tests and grant her conditional release if the results are favorable.
Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 years old in 2014 when they lured sixth-grade classmate Payton Leutner to a Waukesha park after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner repeatedly while Weier egged her on. Leutner suffered 19 stab wounds and barely survived, according to medical staff who treated her.
The girls left Leutner for dead but she crawled onto a bike path and was found by a passerby. Police captured Geyser and Weier later that day as they were walking on Interstate 94 in Waukesha. They told investigators that they stabbed Leutner to earn the right to become Slender Man’s servants and protect their families from him.
Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in a deal with prosecutors and a judge sent her to the psychiatric institute after determining she had a mental illness.
Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide and was also sent to the psychiatric facility after a jury found she was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the attack.
Weier was granted a conditional release in 2021 to live with her father and was ordered to wear a GPS monitor.
10 Years After Slender Man Stabbing: Why Did a Pair of 6th Graders Try to Kill Their Classmate?
May 31, 2024, marks 10 years since two 12-year-old girls — Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier — attacked and tried to kill their friend after growing obsessed with Slender Man, an online supernatural character.
Weier and Geyser were both found guilty of attempted homicide and sentenced to serve time in a mental institution, TMJ-4 reports. In 2021, Weier was granted conditional release from Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh, Wis.. Geyser's April 2024 request to be released was denied, per the Associated Press.
Read PEOPLE's January 2017 print story about the case below.
It began with a slumber party to celebrate Morgan Geyser’s 12th birthday. Then Morgan and her friends Anissa Weier, 12, and Payton Leutner, 12, spent the morning of May 31, 2014, eating strawberries and donuts before heading out to a park near Morgan’s Waukesha, Wis., home. But the hours that followed played out like a terrifying horror film. By that afternoon Anissa and Morgan were sitting in separate police interrogation rooms, explaining how they’d stabbed Payton 19 times and left her for dead in the woods. “Morgan handed me the knife,” Anissa told Waukesha police authorities in a taped interview. “I give it back to her and say, ‘You do it. Go ballistic. Go crazy.’”
In another room Morgan told detectives how it felt to stab Payton, a friend she’d known since fourth grade. “I didn’t know what I did. It just sorta happened,” she said. “It didn’t feel like anything. It was like air.” Although Payton miraculously survived — crawling through dense woods to a nearby bike path where a passerby called 911 — the crime shocked authorities, especially after police discovered the girls’ apparent motive: to win favor with the fictional Internet horror character Slenderman.
In 2017, the bizarre case was the subject of an HBO documentary, Beware the Slenderman, that attempted to decipher how two seemingly normal tween girls could do something so horrific. “Of course they’re guilty, but how much do we hold them accountable?” asks director Irene Taylor Brodsky, who points to the girls’ ages and questions the impact the Internet has on the developing brains of tweens. “It really could be any of our kids.”
Chillingly, Anissa and Morgan do seem to have been typical 12-year-olds. “[Anissa] was in a Girl Scout troop in elementary school,” Anissa’s father, Bill Weier, who appears in the documentary, tells PEOPLE. “She liked animals. She liked roller-skating.” Anissa and Morgan lived in the same condominium complex and rode the same bus to school. Their bond grew tighter as the months passed and they developed an obsession for Slenderman, who, they later told police, would harm them or their families if they didn’t kill in his name.
Although Morgan, according to her parents, has been diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia, Anissa has no history of mental illness. “Anissa had some issues making friends and all she wanted was friends,” says psychologist Dr. Abigail Baird. “And she happened to make friends with someone who maybe wasn’t the most grounded in reality.”
Payton, who was stabbed in the liver, stomach and heart, went on to high school and declined, along with her parents, to participate in the documentary. But Anissa’s father said they are all constantly in his thoughts. “I think about them every day of my life,” Bill Weier said. “As much as I would like to be able to talk to them about this, number one, how do you start that conversation? And number two, would it even be right?”
Meanwhile, Anissa, now 15, and Morgan, now 14, are in different facilities awaiting trial on attempted first-degree intentional homicide charges later this year. They are not allowed contact with each other or access to the Internet, according to a court order. At the time of their arrest Anissa told police she was conflicted about trying to kill Payton. “The bad part of me wanted her to die,” she said. “But the good part of me wanted her to live.” Morgan, she says, convinced her that the attack would prompt Slenderman to take them to his mansion in a neighboring forest. “Morgan said, ‘Slender, if you’re listening, please help us,’” Anissa recounted. “And he didn’t do anything. Nothing happened.”
Slender Man Stabbing Victim Payton Leutner Celebrates 13th Birthday
The girl who once fought for her young life after being stabbed 19 times by two of her classmates, celebrated her birthday on Feb. 13 surrounded by family.
Payton Leutner, who loves animals and visited a local animal shelter in Waukesha, Wisconsin, for her 13th birthday, has tried to resume a normal life in the wake of court hearings and media attention surrounding the case.
“As horrific as all of this is and has been, they consider themselves lucky,” says family spokesman Stephen Lyons. “At the end of the day, Payton wakes up in her bed, they get to celebrate Christmas together, birthdays together, get pizza together – all the stuff that families do.”
Meanwhile, the two girls suspected of stabbing Payton – reportedly in homage to an online fictional character known as Slender Man – appeared in court earlier this week. Morgan Geyser, 12, and Anissa Weier, now 13, have been charged with intentional homicide, according to court documents.
On Monday, the court was shown a police interrogation video in which Weier said she believed she had to kill someone or else Slender Man would “kill my whole family in three seconds,” according to reports.
It was the first time Payton’s parents attended a court hearing.
“They wanted to be there. They needed to be there. It’s part of the healing process,” says Lyons.
The family continues to lean on the community, which has donated money toward mounting medical costs.
“Physically, she has healed,” says Lyons. “But the emotional trauma takes its toll.”
Wisconsin girl who stabbed classmate to please ‘Slender Man’ requests third release from mental institution
A Wisconsin woman accused of stabbing her classmate to please horror character Slender Man more than a decade ago asked a judge again Friday to release her from a psychiatric hospital.
Morgan Geyser, who is now 22 years old, filed a petition with Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren seeking her release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.
The petition marks the third time in the last two years she has asked Bohren to let her out of the facility.
She withdrew her first petition two months after filing it in 2022.
Bohren denied her second request this past April, saying she remains a risk to the public.
The one-page petition doesn’t include any arguments for Geyser’s release.
Instead, it cites state laws that require Bohren within 20 days to appoint at least one expert to examine her and produce a report within 30 days of being appointed.
The petition also requests the judge schedule a hearing, noting that state law requires him to hold one within 30 days of receiving the examiner’s report. Bohren set the hearing for Nov. 1.
Geyser’s attorney, Anthony Cotton, didn’t immediately respond to email and telephone messages Friday morning.
Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 in 2014 when they lured Payton Leutner to a Waukesha park after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. Leutner barely survived.
The girls later told investigators they wanted to earn the right to be servants of the fictional Slender Man and that they feared he would harm their families if they didn’t carry out the attack.
Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide and was sent to the psychiatric institute because of mental illness.
Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide and was also sent to the psychiatric center.
She was granted a release in 2021 to live with her father and was ordered to wear a GPS monitor.
